With the current US national debt exceeding $15 trillion and and budget deficits that are increasing the debt total to the tune of over $1 trillion per year, does it make sense for the US Government to continue to spend money fighting against the use of a harmless drug, like marijuana? Would there be economic benefits to legalizing marijuana? There most certainly would be economic benefits. The benefits wouldn’t balance our budget or pay off our national debt, but they would make a considerable impact to the tune of tens of billions of dollars each year, which is a huge step in the right direction.
Cost Savings
According to statistics from the Cato Institute, expenditures for the war on drugs in 2010 exceeded $41 billion dollars between federal, state, and local authorities. Of that amount, roughly $8.7 billion can be attributed directly to marijuana. So, legalizing marijuana would immediately save us $8.7 billion dollars a year enforcing existing laws. But, that’s just the beginning.
In 2009, over 850,000 people were arrested for marijuana violations, nearly 90% of those were just simple possession charges. In other words, these people aren’t drug dealers or members of organized crime. They’re harmless marijuana users. Each one of those arrests require processing, prosecuting, and in many cases, incarceration. All of those items are costly drains of government resources.
More than 5,000 people are incarcerated each year on marijuana related charges, most of which are non-violent offenders. According to the State of California, it costs more than $47,000 per year to incarcerate just 1 person. That’s nearly $250 million dollars a year to keep low-level, non-violent offenders in prison. Not to mention that our prison system is currently exceeding their capacity and violent, dangerous criminals are being released early to make room for new inmates. Is this really a good use of our resources? I’d much rather have a marijuana user living in my neighborhood than a convicted rapist.
Tax Revenue and Economic Growth
Based upon current estimates of marijuana use, if it were legal and taxed at a similar rate to tobacco and alcohol, marijuana would generate $8.7 billion dollars in annual tax revenue. In addition to the direct taxation of marijuana, our economy could benefit from allowing domestic growers to produce and sell marijuana. It’s estimated that between $1.5 billion and $2 billion dollars worth of Mexican grown marijuana is smuggled into the US each year. That money could be taken out of the hands of the Mexican drug cartels and given to American farmers. There is also a growing market for the wide range of products made from hemp in the US. This markets could easily exceed another $600 million dollars annually.
The Bottom Line
The total dollar improvement to our economy we could see by legalizing marijuana easily exceeds $20 billion dollars per year. When you include the other societal benefits, such as putting illegal, foreign producers and sellers of marijuana out of business and allowing regulation and control, it’s a win-win. Clearly, the legalization of marijuana is still a cause that most politicians don’t have the intestinal fortitude to champion. There is also a tremendous amount of misinformation in the general public regarding the dangers of marijuana use that make it a more difficult sell. However, if we could look at the subject objectively and make a rational decision about it, legalizing marijuana use could greatly help our economy.
The benefits of marijuana are becoming more and more evident by the day and it is becoming increasingly difficult to deny the advantages of medical marijuana. Many people with life threatening disease like AIDS, Cancer, Multiple sclerosis, Crohn’s disease and Glaucoma etc use it for pain management and will testify about its life changing ability. Medical marijuana is a natural herb and different chemically enhanced and altered pharmaceutical drugs don’t measure up of to its amazing abilities and qualities.
Many prescription drugs have various side effects when used permanently. This is a grave concern for people who are using such drugs on a permanent basis. That is simply not the case with marijuana, as it has no side effects associated with it. It is not necessary, that you smoke marijuana as there are other means of taking it. Oils, goods, butter and many other means make marijuana one of the easiest medicines to take. Having no side effects is among the biggest benefits of marijuana.
Apart from debilitating illness there are various other benefits of marijuana as well. It has been found that marijuana eases distress surrounding nausea, chronic pain and arthritics. Medical marijuana is especially useful for treating menstrual cramps and many women who have used it while suffering from menstrual cramps have given it positive remarks. Women during menopause have found marijuana extremely helpful in battling chills, mood swings and hot flashes. Different studies have found out hat marijuana is also helpful in treating depression and other anxiety disorders. Many studies are underway in establishing marijuana’s positive effect on anxiety related problems and disorders.
Unfortunately any attempt of studying the positive use of marijuana is buffed away by critics as an attempt by some “stoners” to legitimize their drug habit. This is certainly not the case and recent studies have shown that there are various benefits of marijuana.Sure, marijuana can be misused but so can be many other drugs. Moreover, it is imposable to get overdosed on marijuana which is something amazing considering that almost every other drug carries this risk. There are various other herbs which are used for pain management and healing purposes like ginseng and black cohosh and banning marijuana is like outlawing these beneficial herbs. Many different cultures use herbal medics for healing and pain management purposes and marijuana is no different. Alternative medicine is a vast field and marijuana falls within that category very much like
Benefits Of Marijuana
chiropractic medicine. Chiropractic philosophy resembles that of medical marijuana; nature and body have the power to heal.
This is among the best benefits of marijuana as it an herb and is grown straight from the ground. Marijuana is not medically altered, refined or even chemically enhanced for that matter. It does have various unpronounceable ingredients which are designed to manipulate your illness. In a nutshell, marijuana is a natural herb and a natural medicine and its various benefits are just becoming visible. Many scientific teams are now researching on different advantages of marijuana and it is safe to conclude that we will see this natural medicine in treating illnesses soon.